Taste The Blood Of Dracula

One of the more accomplished entries in Hammer's Dracula series (which would soon lapse into creative anemia during the 1970s), this fourth installment finds {|Christopher Lee|} in top form as the Count, who returns to menacing life after three middle-aged swingers decide to dabble in black magic to bolster their sagging sex lives. Dracula is reborn when the trio's blood-drinking rituals lead to the destruction of his devil-worshipping colleague Lord Courtley ({|Ralph Bates|}), whereupon the Count unleashes his deadly wrath on those responsible, even involving members of their families in his scheme of revenge, which culminates in a dramatic finale in a recently reconstructed cathedral. Fine direction from Hammer regular {|Peter Sasdy|} enlivens a middling script, and an early appearance from the lovely {|Linda Hayden|} (later to star in the eerie Blood on Satan's Claw) is a definite plus.